2026 Cowboys Draft Chatter Thread

Simpleton said:
I hate to say it for all you Faulk haters, but I think Faulk has to be on the table at 20 after the Osa trade.

I had no interest in him once we moved to a 3-4 based on the assumption that our "interior" spots were fully accounted for between Quinnen, Clark, Osa and Thomas, but now with Osa/Thomas gone I think a guy like Faulk actually fits well.

He's a perfect 3-4 DE/5T fit in the first place, he'd be our best interior rusher after Quinnen by about October, and he actually has the potential to develop more as an edge rusher who could possibly even play a little bit of 3-4 OLB here and there.

Either way he has a really high floor as a 3-4 DE/interior rusher, and we just so happen to have basically zero depth as far as our interior DL now.
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I hate to say it but I have a feeling that from the team's perspective Faulk is on the table at 12.
 
Cotton said:
Some people underestimate country strength. Nebraska was really good at football for a long time because of the cornfed country strength on their teams.
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I mean it's been the calling card of Ferentz for forever. The reason Iowa is always a 7-10 win team isn't because they bring in the best athletes. It's because they bring in a bunch of country strong kids and work the crap out of them in the weight room.
 
Genghis Khan said:
I hate to say it but I have a feeling that from the team's perspective Faulk is on the table at 12.
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You might be right if only because there is a bit of a dead zone of defensive prospects after the top 6 of Reese, Bailey, Bain, Delane, Styles and Downs.

It's sort of the same logic I was using for Thieneman before we basically focused everything in FA on the secondary. Like, if you can't trade down who stands out above Thieneman at 12 if you're hell bent on a defensive player?

Same sort of logic for Faulk who I think is a better prospect than Mykel Williams, and supposedly our FO loved Williams last year.

I wouldn't love it but if you can't trade down and the alternatives are offensive guys like Lemon, Ioane or Fano?
 
I'm not worried about him at 12... There will be at least one surprise before us to push someone down.

If we traded down to 15 or so, that could still be a touch early but I wouldn't mind it. We need talent on defense and I think he has it, even if it hasn't been developed yet.
 
Chocolate Lab said:
I'm not worried about him at 12... There will be at least one surprise before us to push someone down.

If we traded down to 15 or so, that could still be a touch early but I wouldn't mind it. We need talent on defense and I think he has it, even if it hasn't been developed yet.
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He's a tough one because he actually has been productive with 11 TFL and 7 sacks as a sophomore. If he had a year similar to that as a junior he'd be a top 10 lock, maybe even top 5.

So what happened last year? Auburn was a mess overall with their HC fired mid year, but their defense was elite. He played well for the most part but lacked splash plays, but he was also often aligned in a way that isn't conducive to getting quick pressure.

He probably has as much upside as any defensive player in the draft but there's obviously way more downside. What I keep asking myself though, is how much of that risk is tied to trying to make him a pure 4-3 DE vs. what he would be playing here as a 3-4 DE who kind of bounces around, which I think suits him better?

It's just not a very clean evaluation because I think scheme and alignment has a lot to do with the risk you're taking on.
 
Simpleton said:
So what happened last year? Auburn was a mess overall with their HC fired mid year, but their defense was elite. He played well for the most part but lacked splash plays, but he was also often aligned in a way that isn't conducive to getting quick pressure.
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The question is why is he getting pulled off the field in passing situations? For a dude that big and talented on the college level, his own coach didn't think he was good enough to be a pass rusher. Not sure if that was more this past year than the year prior. But it would also explain the drop in production.

Sack numbers can be misleading. I've fallen into that pitfall before. But as a 3-4 DE its a different level of evaluation as a pass rusher. At that position I'm not looking for a 12 sack a year guy. I'm hoping for a 5-7 sack a year guy who can play the run with physicality.
 
A lot of this SEC coaching isn't that great. Oftentimes these position coaches are there because they can recruit.

Now some of that may be different now because of NIL, but it's still not a completely pro league yet in that you do still have to develop those relationships, etc.
 
Cowboysrock55 said:
The question is why is he getting pulled off the field in passing situations? For a dude that big and talented on the college level, his own coach didn't think he was good enough to be a pass rusher. Not sure if that was more this past year than the year prior. But it would also explain the drop in production.

Sack numbers can be misleading. I've fallen into that pitfall before. But as a 3-4 DE its a different level of evaluation as a pass rusher. At that position I'm not looking for a 12 sack a year guy. I'm hoping for a 5-7 sack a year guy who can play the run with physicality.
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I never really noticed him getting clearly pulled in passing situations. At times, sure because there are rotations, but it didn't seem to be a conscious thing to take him out consistently on 3rd and 7 or whatever.

Google is telling me he played about 70% of the snaps, which doesn't really indicate a strategy of pulling him in passing situations.
 
Simpleton said:
I never really noticed him getting clearly pulled in passing situations. At times, sure because there are rotations, but it didn't seem to be a conscious thing to take him out consistently on 3rd and 7 or whatever.

Google is telling me he played about 70% of the snaps, which doesn't really indicate a strategy of pulling him in passing situations.
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It's what I have heard but I can't say I've watched all of his games to see for myself when he is or isn't on the field.

70% is pretty normal for most Dlineman to keep them fresh. Just not sure if those 30% were mostly passing situations.
 
Cowboysrock55 said:
It's what I have heard but I can't say I've watched all of his games to see for myself when he is or isn't on the field.

70% is pretty normal for most Dlineman to keep them fresh. Just not sure if those 30% were mostly passing situations.
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I watched the full Georgia and Alabama games and didn't really notice it. I wasn't watching out for it specifically, but I think I would've noticed it if they were doing it as a strategy because I'd have been frustrated seeing him go out on 3rd and 7 most of the time.
 
Simpleton said:
I watched the full Georgia and Alabama games and didn't really notice it. I wasn't watching out for it specifically, but I think I would've noticed it if they were doing it as a strategy because I'd have been frustrated seeing him go out on 3rd and 7 most of the time.
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Yeah I'm sure it was Voch and Bryan saying it. Could also just be the 3 or 4 games they actually watched of him.
 
Cowboysrock55 said:
Yeah I'm sure it was Voch and Bryan saying it. Could also just be the 3 or 4 games they actually watched of him.
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They would often move him inside in passing situations so that might've had something to do with it too, if they were looking at him as a 4-3 DE at the time.
 
Simpleton said:
I hate to say it for all you Faulk haters, but I think Faulk has to be on the table at 20 after the Osa trade.

I had no interest in him once we moved to a 3-4 based on the assumption that our "interior" spots were fully accounted for between Quinnen, Clark, Osa and Thomas, but now with Osa/Thomas gone I think a guy like Faulk actually fits well.

He's a perfect 3-4 DE/5T fit in the first place, he'd be our best interior rusher after Quinnen by about October, and he actually has the potential to develop more as an edge rusher who could possibly even play a little bit of 3-4 OLB here and there.

Either way he has a really high floor as a 3-4 DE/interior rusher, and we just so happen to have basically zero depth as far as our interior DL now.
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No.
 
Led the nation in INTs by a LBer. Led the nation in PDs by a LBer. But, yeah, Jacob Rodriguez is "rough" in coverage. Jesus Christ, Booze.
 
Simpleton said:
I hate to say it for all you Faulk haters, but I think Faulk has to be on the table at 20 after the Osa trade.

I had no interest in him once we moved to a 3-4 based on the assumption that our "interior" spots were fully accounted for between Quinnen, Clark, Osa and Thomas, but now with Osa/Thomas gone I think a guy like Faulk actually fits well.

He's a perfect 3-4 DE/5T fit in the first place, he'd be our best interior rusher after Quinnen by about October, and he actually has the potential to develop more as an edge rusher who could possibly even play a little bit of 3-4 OLB here and there.

Either way he has a really high floor as a 3-4 DE/interior rusher, and we just so happen to have basically zero depth as far as our interior DL now.
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Cotton said:
Led the nation in INTs by a LBer. Led the nation in PDs by a LBer. But, yeah, Jacob Rodriguez is "rough" in coverage. Jesus Christ, Booze.
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I've heard it said by others but these were the same folks that thought he was slow. I think he will be great in zone as a play maker. Just not someone you want in man against a RB like 99% of LBers. Let Overshown do that.
 
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